Thursday, October 27, 2016

As stated earlier, I have been going through my translation and commentary of the Psalms, validating the translation with the numerical counts of words in the original Hebrew. I have been finding that the Masoretic text is very accurate, and the immediate benefit of word counts is one can determine if the text is accurate. I have found a number of occasions where a supposed "mistake" in the original Hebrew was actually not a mistake, but was done intentionally in order to arrive at a certain number count. There have been a few scholarly studies on this, including Cantos and Strophes by Van der Lugt, and Numerical Secrets of the Bible by Casper Labuschagne (see his web site at Casper Labuschagne's Homepage). Another scholar who has done good work on this is Duane Christensen. It is in reality an ignored area of study due to a number of "numerological quacks," not to mention the Jewish Kabbalists.

The one thing that got me started on this project in the first place is Psalm 145, which is missing a bicolon for the letter nun. This missing verse is found in the Septuagint, the Dead Sea scrolls, and one Hebrew manuscript outside of the Masoretic. I originally thought the Masoretic had dropped this verse, which led me to compare the translation of the Masoretic with the Septuagint (LXX) for the Psalms. I have found, after analyzing the word count of Psalm 145, that the additional verse for the letter nun found in the LXX and Dead Sea Scrolls is a spurious addition to the text. It completely ruins the pattern, which is obvious when one understand the underlying numerical pattern. Just like Psalm 9, 10, 25 and 34, the absence of an acrostic verse is intentional. I can now explain these acrostic Psalms, and why certain letters are missing. For that reason I had to withdraw an earlier article on Psalm 145, it needs to be rewritten due to this new research. In the translation I withdrew some LXX variants that I now know are also invalid. I am debating whether to include this numerical research in the translation and commentary of the Psalms, or if this should be separated into another work.

In the meantime, there have been more clairvoyant dreams about this numerical research into scripture (see the previous post A Clairvoyant Dream of the Numerical Symbolism of the Psalms). I thought these were rather funny and curious - they occur independently, when I happen to ask about other people's dreams. So in one dream, this woman is shopping for bread. She is in the store and cannot read the prices of the bread. I then walk into the store, and then I explain - "That loaf of bread is $1.49. The other loaf of bread is $1.69. And that one over there is more expensive, it is $5.99." The person who had the dream had no idea what it meant. To me it was immediately obvious. The loaves of bread represent the word of God which gives eternal life:

It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matt. 4:4)

Here is another:

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)

In the spiritual sense, bread represents love, and water or wine represents truth. Those who read the Word, and follow it, immediately open their inward soul to receive a Divine influx of love and truth. This is the bread of eternal life.

So, what about the prices of bread in the dream? One was $1.49, another $1.69, and another was $5.99. Completely independent of the person who had the dream, I had been explaining the meaning of the numbers of Psalm 12:6:

The speech of Jehovah is pure speech: as silver refined in a furnace of earth, purified seven times (Ps. 12:6)

Psalm 12 is an interesting and simple study in numerical research. It is composed of two stanzas of 4 bicolons (or verses, but verse numbers were added later so I prefer bicolons). Each stanza is exactly 37 words. But where things get interesting is Psalm 12:6. It is the sixth bicolon of Psalm 12, after which comes the seventh bicolon. The total word count of the Psalm up to the sixth bicolon, or verse 6, is exactly 49 words. The number 49, of course, is 7 x 7. I was explaining this exact passage to someone else, and the next day someone completely independent of this conversation had the dream. The price $1.49 = 149 cents = 100 + 49. And in the number research, I was seeing that large numbers over 100 would be decomposed into smaller numbers, using 100 as one of the sums.

So that explains the number 149. What about 169? Well that was simple, the night before I did a numerical study on Psalm 69. As for the number 599, that I am not sure, but there were a number of instances where I took note of the number 59 but that was earlier in my research.

THE DREAM OF THE ELEVEN PILLARS

So that was one dream, here is another, and this one just about blew me away. Another person approached me and said she had a dream of me where I was at a table, typing on my laptop. Underneath the laptop there was a circular platform, and there was a circle of 11 pillars. On top of the 11 pillars was my laptop. I then told her in the dream: "Count the pillars." She counted them, and there was eleven. I thought that was a curious dream, initially I thought she was mistaken. I asked are you sure they were not twelve? No, she was certain, it was 11 pillars.

At the time, I was about to do a word count on Psalm 75. I then looked, and lo and behold, here was the passage of the Psalm I was about to study:

The earth and all who dwell in her are dissolved, I balance the pillars of it (Ps. 75:3)

In the spiritual sense, the "earth" is not planet earth, but whenever the earth is mentioned in scripture in the majority of cases it represents the church as to truth. The "pillars," in the spiritual sense, are the lower natural truths derived from scripture that support the church, for the church is built on doctrine. Pillars ascend upward, for within the lower natural truths there are higher spiritual truths hidden within them. This is the hidden reason why in the ancient world many temples were built with pillars, for back then everything was representative of spiritual things.

So I looked at Psalm 75, I did not find any reference to 11 pillars.

However, as I did the word counts based on the stanzas, an interesting pattern emerged:

The first stanza of Psalm 75 are the first 3 verses. The total word count of the first 3 verses in the original Hebrew is 22. And of course, 22 = 2 x 11.

The next stanza of Psalm 75 is verses 4-6. The total word count of verses 4-6 in the original Hebrew is 22, and 22 = 2 x 11.

In the next Psalm, Psalm 76, there are three stanzas that have a word count of 22.

The word "pillar" is mentioned one other time in the Psalms: Psalm 99. And of course, 99 = 9 x 11.

And that just took me by complete surprise. The person had the dream before I even did the analysis of Psalm 75. Some may call it "coincidence" or "synchronicity," but in reality there is a spiritual world which affects us in our daily lives. What Swedenborg discovered, when he was in a state of waking visions, that reading scripture, especially in the original Hebrew, opens the mind to direct communication with angelic realms.

I decided to do a bit of research, to see if there was any temple that had 11 pillars. Indeed, there is one where it appears in a temple site in Bolivia, and it is known as Tiwanaku. There is a wall of 11 pillars, and it is used to count by fives to divide the year into 20 half months of 18 days in what is known as the Tiwanaku soli-lunar calendar. Here is a graphic on how the wall of 11 pillars works:

Which is interesting, even though it is a flat wall the graphic shows a circle of how the sun moves throughout the year. For a complete explanation of the calendar, see the site, Tiwanaku Soli Lunar Calendar. For some "odd" reason, back then in Bolivia the kingdom used the Egyptian royal cubit. You won't find that information in your history books.

So what does this calendar have to do with Psalm 75? Not much, the Hebrew calendar is different. However, the arrangement of the 11 pillars is an easy method to count by fives. And of course Psalm 75 is a multiple of 5, and it happens to be the middle Psalm of 150 Psalms.

One last point here, in the original dream, my laptop was on top of 11 pillars. Psalm 75 is composed of sections of 22 words. It is easy to see here: the Hebrew alphabet of course has 22 letters, and this is why my laptop was seen on top of 11 pillars. And I was busy counting Hebrew words. Its boring, but when one makes discoveries like this it is rather nice - there are several aspects of the Psalms that I can explain why they were structured in the way they are. I have seen several more interesting items come up like this, but it take me away from the research just to blog about them. I did ask the person was she aware that the Hebrew alphabet had 22 letters, and she did not. So someone, somewhere, knew what I was going to discover in Psalm 75 before I even analyzed it.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

I have completed the first phase of a massive translation and commentary on the Psalms, which I initially discussed earlier in which someone had a clairvoyant dream about the corrections I had been making in the translation (see A Clairvoyant Dream of a New Translation of the Psalms). It documents every mistranslation, and not only that, it restores the lost poetic structure of the Psalms. It includes commentary on just about every single Psalm gathered from the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, to explain its spiritual sense. So it was complete for every Psalm, except for Psalm 119. Psalm 119 has defied interpretation, even for computer analysis, and to most it is just an endless repetition of the same phrase, over and over again.

So there things stood. However, I noticed an odd numerical symbolism for the number 119, which I discussed earlier (see The Bow of Brass and the Numerical Symbolism of Psalm 119). I have now determined conclusively that this numerical symbolism is not accidental, it is intentional, In fact it pervades all the Psalms. Hints of this can be seen here and there - for example, the eight terms of the law that are repeated in Psalm 119 are all found together in Psalm 19, and of course 119 = 100 + 19. Psalm 119 is the longest acrostic Psalm, and we also have Psalms 9 and 10 which were split from a single Psalm. Some scholars, including the Greek Septuagint, prefer to merge Psalm 9 and 10 into one. But this is a mistake, the division was intentional. 9 + 10 = 19, and 19 + 100 = 119. So, something is afoot here, and it involves numbers.

So as Psalm 119 sticks out like a sore thumb, I decided to dig a bit to see what other researchers have done. I decided to start with Psalms 9 and 10, which form an imperfect acrostic and seemed easier to handle. I found this interesting poetic analysis, in which they dive into several details, but one thing the researchers discovered is that different stanzas (or strophes, as some prefer) have balanced word counts. For those who want to take a look, see it here: EVIL AND THE DISRUPTION OF ORDER: A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE ACROSTICS IN THE FIRST BOOK OF PSALMS. However skim through it, its overwhelming, and unfortunately while some insights are given about word counts the authors make some errors. One researcher who seems to have gathered a lot of data on the numerical structure of the Psalms is Pieter van der Lugt, who has written no less than 3 volumes on the Psalms discussing their poetic structure (see Cantos and Strophes in Biblical Hebrew Poetry). It is three volumes, and just about inaccessible as can be to the general public: each volume is over $200.

Fortunately, I know the methods that are used, and I have started to incorporate that into the poetic analysis of each Psalm in the translation and commentary. The numerical analysis has turned insightful in many cases. I can explain oddball features and sometimes what scholars called "mistakes" which are not "mistakes." Sometimes I corrected what I had in the Psalms; at other times I saw mistakes these researchers have done. So I was going through each Psalm fixing the poetic structure, doing the numerical analysis, and then I saw a pattern that I thought was a fluke. I put it in the "interesting" box and continued. Then it popped again. And again. Not only was I able to fix the poetic structure, but in several cases I could determine which text was the accurate one among the variants. I was absolutely stunned. One or two Psalms is a coincidence. But after having gone through over half of them, I can say now there are very detailed numerical patterns. And I am not talking about gematria (which is probably invalid) nor creating silly crossword puzzles. It has to do with word counts and letters counts. A hidden symbolism in scripture was opening up. And the authors were very clever in hiding it. And then I had that Eureka moment, where I went through a huge Psalm and validated the theory.

It was when I had that "Eureka" moment, someone had a clairvoyant dream about me. They saw me in my office, and some very old spider webs were removed. A very hard to find spider was also taken away. This was very similar to a dream concerning a spider which represented a Biblical mistranslation (see A Clairvoyant Dream of a New Translation of the Psalms). Now, some very old knowledge was being uncovered. I then explained to the person who had the dream what it meant - that day or two before I had just discovered I numerical pattern. There was also another dream, in which I was traveling, and injury was removed from my foot by a Jewish doctor. They asked for his "phone number" repeatedly. But he would not give it. That was obvious - I had uncovered some numerical symbolism in scripture. But this was something the Jewish scribes had kept secret, who of course back then were also known as "doctors" of scripture. Removing an injury in the foot? That was precognitive, around this time I caught an illness which effected my feet. But in the spiritual sense, feet represent the external, and in this case I am dealing with the external representation of scripture. Some errors are being removed. It is at the literal level, the lowest natural, which is represented by numbers. But when one sees the symbolism of the numbers, it then gets elevated into the spiritual interpretation.

So that is where I am at, but unfortunately counting words in the Hebrew text takes time, and if one is off by one word the pattern disappears. The Masoretic it turns out is over 99% accurate. So the blog unfortunately has to take a backseat. I am finding the reason why every jot and tittle of scripture is important, and how the Jews were able to preserve it. In the meantime one can read this post: Spiritual Meaning of Numbers, or Numerology.

So expect in the future a publication on the spiritual commentary on the Psalms, which will include this numerical analysis, and will open up a new chapter in Biblical research. Or at least bring obscure research that has been collecting dust to the general public.

Saturday, September 3, 2016

The essence of Christianity is that God descended and became incarnate in human form as Jesus Christ, in order to save humanity. So why was this necessary? And how was it effected? It is at the heart of Christianity, for once one understands this, one understands the rationale for the Christian way of life.

Jesus saved humanity by assuming a human form that could be tempted to do evil, as the human form had inherited evil tendencies from the mother. However as His soul was Divine, He could not commit any evil, so in His human form a spiritual battle arose between Jehovah and all of hell. Through resisting and conquering temptation in His human form, Jesus conquered the power of hell, and this continued until Jesus rose from the dead at which time His human form was made Divine. The Divine could now flow through His human form into all humanity through the Holy Spirit, and it is through that that each person can call upon Him when one tries to resist and repent from evil. Without His coming, the dominion of hell had cutoff heaven, and angels could no longer influence humanity towards heaven as they could at the beginning, and all would have been lost had not the Divine directly intervened.

There are several passages in which it is stated that sins are remitted and removed by the "blood of Christ." But "blood" in scripture is symbolic of the Divine truth, which is shown in What is Blood Atonement or Vicarious Atonement? Swedenborg shows this from multiple passages, as found in Heavenly Arcana, True Christian Religion, and Apocalypse Explained. When this is known, the Divine truth that flows into humanity through the Holy Spirit is known to be the blood of Christ. Sins are removed only through repentance, in which one shuns evil and resists, while acknowledging that it is the Lord through the Holy Spirit acting though the self effort of our own will and thought. Acknowledgment of the Lord as the source of good and truth, as the one who fights against one's sin, humbles and removes the selfish ego which is the origin of evil in the first place. One acts "as if from self" acknowledging this is but an appearance, as all good and truth flow in from the Lord through us when we act according to His will.

That Jesus saved and saves humanity in such a manner can be shown from scripture. Jesus said,

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (John 17:17-19)

Note that Jesus stated that He must first sanctify Himself - to sanctify is to cleans oneself of evils by the truth. Jesus was Divine truth incarnate, but His human form, which he inherited from the human mother, had inherited evil tendencies. Thus His entire life was a spiritual war against all of hell, and some of this is explained metaphorically by His temptation in the wilderness, but they are spelled out in prophetic detail in the Psalms. Once the Lord conquered all sin and evil in His external human form, the human form became united with the Divine, or glorified as a Divine Human. Before the resurrection there was a dichotomy between the internal soul and external human form, but after the resurrection Jesus was completely Divine, and one with the Father.

So, this is why the resurrection was needed - once the external human form was glorified, the Holy Spirit could be made available:

But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet; because that Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:39)

This is a problematic passage for those who have a false idea of a trinity of three person: how come the Holy Spirit did not exist yet? The answer is that the Holy Trinity exists in one person, Jesus Christ: the soul, body and spirit of Jesus Christ is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Divine had to sanctify the external human form, and once the human form was glorified, the Holy Spirit could flow through that external Divine form to all humanity.

The effect of Jesus' coming in the spiritual world was dramatic: for the Divine has infinite love to each and every person of the human race. And the greater the love, the greater the hell that opposes it. For each person born in this world there is a balance between heaven and hell, between good and evil spirits, which is effected in external form in the thoughts of our mind. Thus when Jesus came, it was all out war against evil spirits, which had even ascended into heaven:

And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. (Luke 10:17-18)

This spiritual war culminated in a final judgment, in which the evil were separated from the good in the spiritual world, and hell's dominion no longer had the same power as it once did over the inhabitants of this earth:

Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. (John 12:31)

This last judgment and its effects are described by Swedenborg in detail in his work, The Final Judgment. Although the spiritual realms of heaven and hell are hidden to us until we die, this spiritual battle played out in demoniacs who had taken possession of people's minds. Evil spirits had begun to take control over people's minds, where they had no self control. Today, many suffer from internal depression, or weakness against sins they hide from others. It is for this reason Jesus came into the world, for inasmuch as one receives Him, and lives by His commandments, and trusts and hopes in Him, He can give the will power to resist evil and falsity. As Jesus lived, so shall we: as He resisted temptation in Himself, so we must conquer in temptation through Him. This is what it means to bear one's cross - evils must be removed in temptation and repentance, before the Lord can live in our heart in love:

Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34)

In the Christian revelation, the complete revelation of God and His will is shown in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ there is a complete union between the Divine and the human, where He is now the Divine Human at the center of all of heaven. For God is Man, and we are but his images, for the human form is the external visible form that effects love and truth, and God is Love and Truth itself. In the union of the Divine with the human in Jesus Christ, it is revealed that God loves us, and desires to be one with us in love: we are conjoined to the Lord through love in our heart. As God is love, so He desires to love others. And that is the purpose of creation, that is the reason why we exist. Love, is the answer to all things.